Triplanetary | Page 7

of a great high-powered structure. Doors
opened before them and closed behind them, until at last they stood
upright in a room which was evidently the office of a busy executive.
They faced a desk which, in addition to the usual equipment of the
business man, carried a bewilderingly complete switchboard and
instrument panel.
Seated impassively at the desk there was a gray man. Not only was he
dressed entirely in gray, but his heavy hair was gray, his eyes were gray,
and even his tanned skin seemed to give the impression of grayness in
disguise. His overwhelming personality radiated an aura of
grayness--not the gentle gray of the dove, but the resistless, driving
gray of the super-dreadnaught; the hard, inflexible, brittle gray of the
fracture of high-carbon steel.

"Captain Bradley, First Officer Costigan, Miss Marsden," the man
spoke quietly, but crisply. "I had not intended you two men to live so
long. That is a detail, however, which we will pass by for the moment.
You may remove your suits."
Neither officer moved, but both stared back at the speaker
unflinchingly.
"I am not accustomed to repeating instructions," the man at the desk
continued; voice still low and level, but instinct with deadly menace.
"You may choose between removing those suits and dying in them,
here and now."
Costigan moved over to Clio and slowly took off her armor. Then, after
a flashing exchange of glances and a muttered word, the two officers
threw off their suits simultaneously and fired at the same instant;
Bradley with his Lewiston, Costigan with a heavy automatic pistol
whose bullets were explosive shells of tremendous power. But the man
in gray, surrounded by an impenetrable wall of force, only smiled at the
fusillade, tolerantly and maddeningly. Costigan leaped fiercely, only to
be hurled backward as he struck that unyielding, invisible wall. A
vicious beam snapped him back into place, the weapons were snatched
away, and all three captives were held in their former positions.
"I permitted that, as a demonstration of futility," the gray man said, his
hard voice becoming harder, "but I will permit no more foolishness.
Now I will introduce myself. I am known as Roger. You probably have
heard nothing of me yet but you will--if you live. Whether or not you
two live depends solely upon yourselves. Being something of a student
of men, I fear that you will both die shortly. Able and resourceful as
you have just shown yourselves to be, you could be valuable to me, but
you probably will not--in which case you shall, of course, cease to exist.
That, however, in its proper time--you shall be of some slight service to
me in the process of being eliminated. In your case, Miss Marsden, I
find myself undecided between two courses of action; each highly
desirable, but unfortunately mutually exclusive. Your father will be
glad to ransom you at an exceedingly high figure, but, in spite of that
fact, I may decide to keep you for--well, let us say for certain

purposes."
"Yes?" Clio rose magnificently to the occasion. Fear forgotten, her
courageous spirit flashed from her clear, young eyes and emanated
from her slender, rounded young body, erect in defiance. "Since I am a
captive, you can of course do anything you please with me up to a
certain point--but no further, believe me!"
With no sign of having heard her outburst Roger pressed a button and a
tall, comely woman, appeared--a woman of indefinite age and of
uncertain nationality.
"Show Miss Marsden to her apartment," he directed, and as the two
women went out a man came in.
"The cargo is unloaded, sir," the newcomer reported. "The two men and
the five women indicated have been taken to the hospital," was the
report of the man.
"Very well, dispose of the others in the usual fashion." The minion
went out, and Roger continued, emotionlessly:
"Collectively, the other passengers may be worth a million or so, but it
would not be worth while to waste time upon them."
"What are you, anyway?" blazed Costigan, helpless but enraged beyond
caution. "I have heard of mad scientists who tried to destroy the earth,
and of equally mad geniuses who thought themselves Napoleons
capable of conquering even the Solar System. Whichever you are, you
should know that you can't get away with it."
"I am neither. I am, however, a scientist, and I direct many other
scientists. I am not mad. You have undoubtedly noticed several
peculiar features of this place?"
"Yes, particularly the artificial gravity, which has always been
considered impossible, and those screens. An ordinary ether-wall is
opaque in one direction, and doesn't bar matter--yours are transparent

both ways and something more than impenetrable to matter. How do
you do it?"
"You could not understand them if I